A Tale of Two Socks

I’ve been on a bit of a sock binge recently. After I finished the Mister’s pair, I thought I should have a new pair too. I looked at one of my WIPs:

As you might recall, I started this sock oh, May 2012. I really like the pattern; it’s clear and well written. The yarn is a fabulous cashmere blend. I want to wear the pair but I’m simply having a hard time knitting it. It’s probably the size 1 needles that I’m not fond of or the super tight gauge I’m getting. They will probably wear like steel if ever I finish them.

But the weather has gotten warm, so I picked up some souvenir yarn I had bought at Knitting Addiction. It’s a cotton bamboo blend and knitting up delightfully.

I'm using Anne Hanson’s Tesserae sock pattern. I should have a pair of these soon!

PS:

Thank you for your support of Mossy Marsha. I hope to release another story about a princess by the end of the month. :-)

Mossy Marsha

This post is for lovers of children's books.  But first, for my knitter friends, I have a little eye candy.

I created a knit version of my Mossy character by modifying a pattern from this lovely book, Knitted Toy Tales.



I’m pleased to say that my fabulous illustrator and I have released our first picture ebook, Mossy Marsha.  I won’t tell you how many years this has been worked on, dreamt about, re-worked on, and fussed over, or the bit of courage needed to finally push it out the door.  My youngest daughter at age 6 admonished me last year saying, “You better get this done before I grow up.”  I kid you not!

The ebook has fourteen fully illustrated pages and is appropriate for kids ages 4-8 years.

Description:

Marsha, a fairy of the moss, has big dreams. When Natalie, the rose fairy, shows her a flyer about the Fairy State Fair, Marsha wants to compete. But her wings are too small for flight, and her fairy dust only works on mushrooms. How can she win?  Marsha mixes up a new batch of fairy dust with gigantic results.

First page sample.

To celebrate the release, we’re offering Mossy for free through Memorial day. 

I hope you enjoy. Kind Amazon reviews are appreciated!

PS:  For those who are saying, “I don’t have a Kindle Fire” or “I have no idea what you are talking about.”  If you have an Amazon account, you can read all of your Amazon purchased/downloaded ebooks on their Cloud Reader.  It really is pretty cool.

Sand and Stone on Knit Picks

It’s been three years since I started my knit design adventure.  I’ve learned much and feel like I’ve come far but only because of a group of designers who have mentored me and the terrific support of Knit Picks.

I’m grateful to be at the point where I can send a design idea asking for six skeins of their best cashmere blend and they’re like, sure, what color?

Then I knit the piece, send it to them, and they say -- we’ll do the photo shoot.  Here use these photos in your pattern and where ever you want to.

Wow that’s cool.

Then I see this:

Sand and Stone is in slot 1, page 1 on the New patterns page!  I am so honored.  I had to take a screen shot since it won’t stay there very long.  Ha ha.

To top it all off, the Mister said he thought this was my best piece yet.

Joy!  :-)

Sand and Stone on Knit Picks

Finished Socks

I'm a little late posting because I just completed my class final exam.  But in case anybody is wondering I did also finish the Mister's socks.

I found it really amusing when I was researching stock photography websites that there was one that requested no foot shots and went on to wonder why people were taking so many shots of their socks!

Ha ha ha!  Knitters know.  Even the most basic sock is a thing of beauty when you've knit it yourself out of some beautiful merino like this from Three Waters Farm.

Next up when I catch up will be some cool design pictures from Knit Picks!

PSA: Pain Relief - or the best gym class I've ever been to

I have been a knitter and a computer jockey most of my life.  My hands, arms, shoulders and back have paid the price.

Last November, I stumbled into a gym class called MELT.  I had never heard of it before.  There's a book about it and some buzz from Dr. Oz.

I'm not one for writing long testimonials on anything.  But I felt that I should share that it's for real and works for me.  Here is the link for my wonderful instructor's website: MeltNC

Please buy your own roller; my gym classes are packed!

Sock holes

In 2007, I knit my first socks.  I knit a pair for myself and my family.  Here is the Mister's first pair.

And this is how I'm going to fix them,

 
Well after all the years that he has carefully worn and appreciated the brown socks, I can look past his comment about Walmart socks he made when he didn't know better!  :-)  He deserves a new pair.  Will I darn the old ones?  Maybe.

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In other news, a lot has been going on here with secret knitting for proposals and writing and editing.  I'm proud to say that the Mister who wrote Akiesha so long ago, has a new middle grade sci fi under contract with MuseItUp.  I couldn't be happier for him!

Finishing February

Between college and my Craftsy courses I feel like I've been in continuous classes. At least I finished one that I started..oh yeah, last May. Here is my Skywalker designed by Laura Nelkin, blocking.

 

I did the suggested method of wiring the long side and not pinning down the border. It leaves it a little ruffly so that is nice. It's the first time I've used wires. They are incredibly convenient! My very first lace scarf I pinned it out with a zillion pins but could not get a nice even edge. It was a bit of a nightmare. On Sand and Stone I used the wires on all for sides for a nice even shape. That was much easier.

Thinking of Sand and Stone, Knit Picks has offered to do a professional photography shoot for it! Yay! Photos are probably the most challenging part of pattern creation for me so I'm thrilled to have the honor. I'll post them when I get them.

Right now I have to get back to a sock.